Star Trek Grace of the USS Moonlight
by Jochern
Summary: Amenset Shienyashi is the second officer on board the USS Moonlight when the ship partake in an offensive into the Torros system. When disaster strikes she has to step up.


Star Trek

Grace of USS Moonlight

 **2374**

 **Cardassian Space, Torros III**

 **Excelsior Class Starship** _ **USS Moonlight**_

Second Officer Amenset was standing in place of the Tactical Officer, her long flowing crimson hair strayed from its fancy form for moment when the bridge shook. Her fully white eyes stared forward at Captain Trevor Gray. The man was standing firmly between the Tactical console and the helmsman's console, calm and unmoving.

The ships Tactical Officer had been wounded and had to be taken to the infirmary.

"Photon torpedoes striked a direct hit to their engines," Amenset informed with a fierce and fiery voice. "The Jem'Hadar Battlecruiser is completely disabled. They are dead in space."

Gray nodded.

"Very good. Focus fire on the Jem'Hadar Fighters on our ass." He half-turned to look at his pale Second Officer. "Shield strength?"

"They are at thirty-seven percent," Amenset replied. Her long pointy ears twitched.

Not far away First Officer Richard Henson held onto a console to keep on his ship when the ship shook again. Four torpedoes had struck their aft deflector shields.

"Whenever you feel like it Amenset," Gray said calmly.

Amenset fired the _Moonlight's_ phasers at one of the pursuing Jem'Hadar Fighters. The first and second hits impacted its shields, the third broke through and allowed the Moonlight to launch torpedoes and turn the ship and crew to dust. The shields had already been severely weakened in the battle.

"One destroyed, a second in piling off. they're chasing a Klingon Bird of Prey," she announced.

Without time to breath she was already targeting the third Jem'Hadar Fighter. A passing Jem'Hadar Fighter fired a burst of Disruptors at their port shields. It then continued to attack another Federation Starship. The _Moonlight's_ focusing fire on the pursuing Warship easily destroyed it. It was turned to dust and debris in the silent vacuum of space.

"Richard, can you give me a status of the overall battle?" Gray asked his First Officer.

Henson was leaning over the communications station.

"Not well captain, we are taking serious losses and Dominion reinforcements keep coming in," he said. He rose. "The _IKS Rot'gorde_ is taking heavy damage. General Pogh requests assistance. His support ships have all been destroyed."

"Set a course for the Klingon flagship Ensign," Gray ordered.

"Aye, sir. Setting course," the ensign answered with a strained voice.

The Excelsior class Starship set a course for the Negh'Var class Warship. It was being hammered by five Dominion Battlecruisers with a dozen Cardassian Keldon class Cruisers. Apart from two Birds-of-Prey the flagship was on its own. Amenset kept firing and destroyed two Jem'Hadar Fighters along their path. All around them ships fought as the amount of wrecked ships in the system increased quickly.

"Are there any other ships capable of assisting the _Rot'gorde_?" Gray asked in his calm neutral voice.

Henson took a short moment to answer. "No. All ships in the vicinity is busy with problems of their own."

"Deflectors down to twenty-three percent," Amenset said, trying to gather herself. "We won't last long against all those ships."

Henson threw her a dirty look.

"Are you suggesting we run away?" Henson grunted.

Amenset kept her eyes on her monitor as she said, "That's not what I said. I'm stating a fact."

"This isn't the time for an argument kids," Gray said in amusement. "Amenset, fire when in range."

 _Moonlight_ swept through the dark vacuum. A beam of phaser leaped off the _Moonlight_ and impacted the closest Battlecruiser's deflector shields. On their approach they fired half a dozen beams from their phaser banks. Three Cardassian Cruisers aborted their attack of the Klingon flagship and set a course towards the _Moonlight_. From the bridge of their ship they saw how a Jem'Hadar Fighter rammed one of the Bird-of-Prey assisting the _Rot'gorde_.

"Maniacs," Amenset heard one of the junior officer's mumble.

"The Jem'Hadar don't care for their own lives," Gray stated. "Just like the Founders wanted."

The _Moonlight_ shook when the Cardassian Cruisers opened fire. The Battlecruiser they fired on committed to their own attack. On her console Amenset noted that their shields was down to twenty-two percent. She continued firing phasers to break through the shields of the Battlecruiser. In the meantime the Cardassians pummeled the deflectors with their phasors. Helmsman Malik was doing his best at the helm with evasive maneuvers to avoid as much enemy fire as possible. with a combined salvo from the Rot'gorde the Battlecruisers deflector shields went down and two photon torpedoes ripped it in half.

Amenset shifted her gaze from the console to the Captain's back.

"Battlecruiser destroyed, the Bird-of-Prey has disabled one of the Keldon Cruisers."

"What's the status of the Klingon ship?" Gray inquired.

"Their shields down and most of their weapons offline. Speaking of weapons we are almost out of photon torpedoes, ten left."

"Make them count Amenset. How is the _Rot'gorde's_ engines? Are they online?"

"Yes, sir," she confirmed. She steadied herself swiftly. "Torpedoes incoming!"

Seconds later the ship shook heavily as phasers and six torpedoes impacted their forward deflector shields. An exploding console threw Henson backwards with burns on his hands and face. Most of the bridge crew was thrown to the floor or against consoles and walls. Amenset groaned as she got back up on her feet. Alarms was echoing in her ears and the groaning of a wounded shipmate reached her. she moved her right hand to her forehead and lowered it to see blood on her fingers. Quickly she looked around. The pained groans was from an Ensign and both Henson and Gray was down.

She ran over to Henson since he was closest. As she kneeled beside him she tapped her comm badge.

"Medical team to the bridge!"

To her regret Henson was dead. She shifted her gaze to a Lieutenant that checked on the captain.

"The Captain?"

"H-he's gone!"

She took a deep breath and got on her feet and stumbled over to the Lieutenant.

"Take Tactical Westmoreland. Give me a status report!"

"Yes, sir!"

It took Westmoreland a few moments to give her a ship-wide status report.

"I'm waiting Lieutenant!" She tried to remain calm keep her species vicious traits under wrap.

"Hull breaches on nine decks, shields and weapons offline, warp and sublight engines still online and casualty reports are coming in from throughout the ship," the Lieutenant read off the console. "Twenty-eight dead, nineteen missing and over seventy wounded."

"Bridge to Engineering," Amenset said, immediately contacting engineering.

"Lt. Commander Zraakala here," she heard the Moonlight's Chief Engineer's feminine voice. "I have injuries and damage down here but the warp drive is functioning."

"Commander I need shields back online five minutes ago!" She cut the channel before Zraakala answered. Her attention turned to the Helmsman. "Continue with evasive actions, and set a course for the nearest friendly ships."

"Aye, sir!" The young Ensign affirmed nervously.

Then she turned to the communications station. The young Vulcan man half-turned to her before she could speak.

"Lieutenant Commander, Rear Admiral Napolitano has ordered all ships to withdraw to Deep Space Nine," he informed her with relative calm.

The shook shoo violently when it was struck by a phaser beam.

"Report!" She demanded, holding onto the side of the tactical console.

"We lost power on decks 30 through 18!" Westmoreland alerted in an exhausted voice.

She looked to the Helmsman, her white eyes staring at the back of her blue Benzite head for a moment. She wanted to stay and ensure that General Pogh's ship escaped safely but there was nothing the Moonlight could do now.

"Ensign Malik, take us to warp!" The ship was unlikely to withstand another serious hit.

* * *

Amenset was sitting obediently on the bio-bed while a nurse dealt with the large gash on her forehead. She tried to look around without moving her head too much and making it harder for the young man to heal her minor injuries. She had been lucky, unlike many of the men and women swarming the infirmary. It didn't help that she felt like she shouldn't be there. Many of them was far worse off than she was.

"Please sir, be still," the young man asked her, his voice meager and swollen by grief. "I am almost done."

"Sorry…" Amenset whispered under her breath.

A few seconds went by and she glanced at the Chief Medical Officer. He was working hard with a Crewman with a serious injury.

"Hurry up, these people need help more than me."

"Doctor insists ma'am," the young man stated. "Nobody says no to Doctor Roland, well…maybe you do ma'am, but I have to work with him every day." He lowered the dermal regenerator he used to heal her forehead. "All done."

Amenset nodded and got out of the bed. On her way to the door she stopped at the bed where Lieutenant T'rell was lying, the Vulcan tactical officer. She was lying in silence with her usual black but spread out like a pillow under her head. She gratefully noted that the burns she had sustained had been completely healed. She couldn't guess about her broken arm but it wouldn't have taken too long and they should have been able to handle it before the casualties started to swarm in. gently she put her hand on T'rell's.

In response the Vulcan opened her brown eyes and zeroed in on on the pale Laghanese.

"Lieutenant Commander Shienyashi," T'rell said in a mostly monotone voice. As someone that had known her for a long time Amenset recognized a hint of emotions. She slowly sat up. "Are you well?"

Amenset smiled.

"Yeah, just fine. Got a little smacked around before but it's okay. Minor thing." She squeezed T'rell's hand a little harder. "How are you feeling?"

"I am fine. My bone has been repaired and my burns healed. I stand ready for duty," she said with that Vulcan professionalism Amenset had come to expect, but with that hint of emotion intertwined. "I heard the short version of what happened. I am…sorry to hear that Captain Gray and Commander Henson are both deceased."

Amenset lost her smile, "Yeah. Me too. We're on our way to DS9. There we can fully repair or at least rest before setting course for a close by repair station."

Realizing she had needlessly saddened her friends mood T'rell back slightly with her hand.

"I am sorry. I did not mean to-" T'rell started, but was interrupted.

" _Lt. Commander Shienyashi to bridge,"_ came over Amenset's comm-badge.

She sighed. Never time to truly breath, she thought. She tapped her comm-badge.

"On my way," she answered.

She gave T'rell a nod to follow her. She answered with a nod of her own. It didn't take long for them to reach a turbolift and travel up to the bridge. There was a handful of engineers working hard to get it back into a decent state.

"What do you have for me Lieutenant Westmoreland?" Amenset asked as she walked out of the turbolift.

"We have received a message from Rear Admiral Napolitano ma'am," he started pointedly. "A hundred Jem'Hadar ships are pursuing us, but the main force of capital ships didn't leave the Torros System."

"Can we reach DS9?" She asked.

"If we maintain Warp 9, yes. There shouldn't be a problem. Lt. Commander Zraakala assures we can maintain Warp 9 until we reach the DS9."


End file.
